1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to fruit handling and conveying apparatus, and more particularly, it pertains to apparatus for feeding fruit in spaced single file lanes at right angles from a bulk supply of loose fruit on a conveyor belt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A common arrangement in high speed fruit handling operations is the feeding of fruit from a bulk supply of loose fruit on an endless conveyor belt into a plurality of uniformly spaced fruit feeding lanes which can then feed the fruit at a controlled rate to a particular processing machine which might perform some operation upon the individual fruit such as juice extraction, grading, etc. In a conventional arrangement the fruit is fed in bulk on a horizontally moving belt conveyor, and the fruit feeding lanes are arranged at right angles to the direction of movement of the conveyor at preselected locations along the length thereof where the fruit can be diverted laterally off of the conveyor. Such fruit diversion is accomplished either by transversely inclining the conveyor toward the fruit lane feeding apparatus, or, by providing special diverting strips or barriers to physically urge the fruit to the fruit lane feeding apparatus. A critical problem with such fruit feeding apparatus, as found for example in the feeding of citrus fruit, is the problem of preventing jamming at the inlet ends of the fruit feeding lanes. This problem is increased in its severity as the conveying speed of the fruit is increased.
A satisfactory means of solving the aforedescribed fruit jamming problem has long eluded the citrus fruit handling industry. For example, fruit lane feeding devices of the type described oftentimes required an operator whose sole function was to manually break up jams of fruit at the entrances of the fruit feeding lanes, i.e., where two fruit attempted to enter a lane at the same time and became squeezed together between the walls defining the entrance to the lane due to the pressure of the bulk fruit on the conveyor belt. It can be appreciated that the provision of an extra workman merely to solve fruit lane feeding problems can be a costly expense for fruit handling operations. On the other hand, if means are not provided for breaking up such jams at the entrances of the fruit feeding lanes, production in the fruit handling operation can be significantly curtailed.